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PLYMOUTH -- When Board of Education member Patrick Perugino made a motion to terminate embattled Superintendent Eleanor S. Cruz, the audience packed with parents and residents broke out into applause Wednesday night.

But the board's attorney, Richard Mills of the Hartford law firm Shipman and Goodwin, grimaced as he stood in the back of the high school cafeteria.

Following almost an hour and a half in executive session with board members and the attorneys, the Board of Education voted not to terminate its superintendent but instead give the board chairman, Raymond Engle, the authorization to review the superintendent's conduct, including whether to place her on paid leave and take any other actions.

The drawn-out process will keep Cruz in her position much longer.

Cruz did not attend the Board of Education meeting. She is not on leave but was told following her arrest last week not to report to work. It was shortly after she started working in Plymouth that the accusations she misappropriated school funds from Hebron surfaced.

An 18 month investigation by the state police led to a first-degree larceny charge from her former district.

She will be arraigned in Rockville Superior Court on Aug. 26.

The charge stems from Cruz's time as the superintendent in Hebron school district. Last year, the Hebron school board accused Cruz of misusing a district credit card and other charge accounts throughout 2012. Hebron officials allege Cruz spent $5,095 in school money for personal reasons, or in error, and another $9,133 in unauthorized expenses from January 2012 to December 2012. Cruz's attorney has said the allegations followed miscommunication about Cruz's former contract in Hebron and other charges were made in error.

"They can't just fire her. They have to go through the proper channels," said Joseph Sekorski, a former Board of Education chairman in the 1970s who attended the meeting.

A few of the parents who addressed board members had children attending Plymouth Center School, where the principal there, Chrystal Collins, announced she would be leaving.

At a personnel subcommittee before the full board's meeting, business manager Michael J. Santogatta asked the subcommittee to table Collins' resignation.

Collins' last day is scheduled for Friday, but an interim principal is not able to work next week. Santogatta said the position at Plymouth Center School has been posted. The applications will be presented to the personnel subcommittee after the posting closes this week.

Many parents said they felt the loss of Collins and Terryville High School Principal Brian Falcone were the result of Cruz's leadership.

Unaware of the subcommittee's decision, many parents asked the board to hold off on approving Collins' resignation. "I feel we owe it to the children to salvage one good administrator from this disorder," Michelle Mulvehill said.

Chris Simo-Kimzer has two children who will be starting their last year at Plymouth Center School.

"She was amazing with our son the four years he was there. She was such a big asset to this town," Simo-Kimzer said.

Former board member Marty Weitzel told his former Board of Education colleagues that he was "guilty of hiring" Cruz but said the board should act on accusations "heard from the grapevine" about workplace bullying.

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down2earth wrote on Aug 14, 2014 1:18 PM:

" The accusations in Hebron were well known prior to the hiring in Plymouth. Why in the world would Plymouth even consider hiring this individual? "

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